Poe won't be our Rep much longer; still supports channel improvements

Published 10:23 am, Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Photo: Dan Wallach

Image 1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe has worked to secure improvements for the Sabine-Neches Ship Channel since he took office in 2004. New congressional district lines takes him away from Jefferson County in 2013, but he assured the Sabine-Neches Navigation District he will continue to support improving the channel. Dan Wallach/The Enterprise less

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe has worked to secure improvements for the Sabine-Neches Ship Channel since he took office in 2004. New congressional district lines takes him away from Jefferson County in 2013, but he assured ... more

Photo: Dan Wallach

Poe won't be our Rep much longer; still supports channel improvements

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe will continue his support of improvements to the Sabine-Neches Ship Channel, even though it won't be in his congressional district after January, he said Monday.

In 2013, Jefferson County will have a new member of Congress because of redrawn voting districts. That person will have to convince colleagues that the project is worthwhile, possibly from the position of a Washington freshman.

Poe, R-Humble, said a deeper channel, able to accommodate larger ships with bigger cargoes, is essential not only for the local economy, but also to help sustain the nation's economic

recovery.

For example, people in Kansas who fly on planes are able to do so because of jet fuel made in Southeast Texas refineries, he said. And as refineries in the Northeast have closed, consumers there are looking elsewhere for their supply.

That could mean they're looking toward fuel made at any of the four local motor fuels refineries which receive crude oil via the ship channel, said Poe, who dropped by the Sabine-Neches Navigation District offices on Monday.

The Panama Canal is going to be widened, Poe added, which means larger ships will carry more cargo. Crude tankers that deliver to Southeast Texas oil docks aren't coming in full now because their bottoms would scrape the mud in the ship channel.

The channel was last deepened in 1962, 50 years ago.

The final approval for the estimated $1.2 billion Sabine-Neches project to extend and deepen the ship channel to 48 feet from its current depth of 42 feet came late in Poe's eight-year tenure as Jefferson County's point man.

The last hurdle now is authorization from Congress, which would provide money to start the 15-year project.

Beard said the local match might have to be raised through a bond election that voters would have to approve.

"We'd have to put forth an education effort - what it means for job creation," Beard said.

However, no one knows whether Congress will authorize spending because its leadership, spurred by the election of anti-spending members in 2010, seem to be in no mood for expensive projects.

Poe acknowledges the politics are difficult.

"If the Republicans stay in charge, I think there will be common-sense decisions made about transportation," Poe said.

The ship channel improvements would be at or near the top of a new Water Resources Act, he said.

"We have to communicate the importance of this waterway," he said. "We have to be able to tell them in New Jersey why this is important. We want to raise awareness, whether you're a business person or a consumer. If you drive a vehicle, it certainly affects you."